Frances Alda

Frances Davis Alda (born Fanny Jane Davis; 31 May 1879 – 18 September 1952) was a New Zealand-born, Australian-raised operatic lyric soprano. She achieved fame during the first three decades of the 20th century due to her outstanding singing voice, fine technique and colourful personality, as well as her frequent onstage partnerships at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, with Enrico Caruso.[1]

Frances Alda
Alda circa 1920
Born
Fanny Jane Davis

(1879-05-31)May 31, 1879
Christchurch, New Zealand
DiedSeptember 18, 1952(1952-09-18) (aged 73)
Venice, Italy
Spouses
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(m. 1910; div. 1928)​
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    (m. 1941)​
    Frances Alda relaxing away from the stage, 1909

    Career

    Alda was born Fanny Jane Davis in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 31 May 1879 to David Davis and Leonore Simonsen.[n 1]

    Leonore, a promising singer from a musical family, in September 1880 divorced David and resumed her singing career. Fanny spent her early years traveling with her mother on her operatic tours. After false starts in Australasia, she took Fanny and her younger brother to San Francisco, California in 1883. Leonore Davis remarried but died of peritonitis in San Francisco on 29 December 1884, shortly after remarrying, to Herman Adler. After her mother's death, Alda was sent to live with her maternal grandparents, Martin and Fanny Simonsen, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.[2]

    1920 newspaper advertisement for an Alda concert at the Murat Theater in Indianapolis, USA.

    She sang in productions of Gilbert and Sullivan in Melbourne before leaving Australia for Europe at the age of 22 in order to undertake additional study and pursue an international singing career like her future soprano rival Nellie Melba. After receiving lessons in Paris from the renowned teacher Mathilde Marchesi, who gave her her stage name, Alda made her debut at the Opéra-Comique in 1904 in Jules Massenet's Manon. She appeared at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in 1906, and at La Scala, Milan, during the 1906-08 seasons.

    In 1908, the former La Scala impresario Giulio Gatti-Casazza became director of the Metropolitan Opera. On 7 December 1908 Alda made her debut there. On 4 April 1910, Alda and Gatti-Casazza married. According to American Art News (New York, 19 March 1910), Adolfo Müller-Ury was painting Alda just before her marriage. It was in New York that Alda furthered her career, appearing to acclaim in such famous operas as Martha, Manon Lescaut, Otello, Faust, Mefistofele and La bohème. She began recording for the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1908 and several of her records became best-sellers.[3] She created the title roles in Victor Herbert's Madeleine and Henry Hadley's Cleopatra's Night as well as Roxane in Walter Damrosch's Cyrano. She also sang regularly with Enrico Caruso.

    Alda toured Australia and New Zealand in 1927, saying in an interview she loathed the former.[4] She and Gatti-Casazza separated the following year and then divorced. In 1929, she left the Met but continued to give concerts, make radio broadcasts and appear in vaudeville. Alda's 1937 autobiography was titled Men, Women, & Tenors.

    On 14 April 1941 in Charleston, South Carolina, she married Manhattan advertising executive Ray Vir Den; he was a decade younger than she.[5]

    She had an affluent retirement in Long Island, and spent much time travelling . She died of a stroke on 18 September 1952 in Venice, Italy, aged 73.[1]

    She is buried in All Saints Episcopal Church Cemetery in Great Neck, Long Island.[6]

    Notes
    1. Alda amended her birth year to 1883 to make herself more appealing to operatic managers. This incorrect year is often recorded as her actual year of birth.

    References
    1. "Frances Alda Dies. Former Met Star. 21 Years Before Retiring in 1929. Sang 40 Roles. A Gatti-Casazza Protege. Came to U.S. With Milanese Impresario in 1908. Stricken by Brain Hemorrhage". The New York Times. 19 September 1952.
    2. Charlotte Macdonald (1992). The book of New Zealand women (First ed.). Wellington, NZ: Williams. ISBN 0-908912-04-8.
    3. Whitburn, Joel (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, Inc. p. 21. ISBN 0-89820-083-0.
    4. ""I LOATHE AUSTRALIA."". Cairns Post (Qld. : 1909 - 1954). 14 November 1927. p. 5. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
    5. "Mme. Frances Alda Wed To Ray Vir Den. Former Opera. Singer Bride Of New York Advertising Man". The New York Times. 15 April 1941.
    6. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14000 Famous Persons by Scott Wilson

    Media related to Frances Alda at Wikimedia Commons

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